Pebbles Hooper (left) and Mischa Barton chum up in Sydney.
Pebbles Hooper (left) and Mischa Barton chum up in Sydney.
Asked to spend a day with Hollywood star Mischa Barton, most teens would be too stunned to reply. But not Pebbles Hooper.
The 16-year-old was quickly on a plane and across the Ditch to Sydney, where she brunched with the teen icon before attending a star-studded cocktail party on Wednesday.
The daughter of World fashion designers Denise L'Estrange-Corbet and Francis Hooper said there was no time to be star-struck when she got a week's notice to work as a stylist for Australian department store David Jones, which brought The OC star out for its spring fashion promotion.
Hooper said she was in frantic "work mode" before her star assignment, having spent the previous two days styling four competition winners who had each won a $5000 shopping spree at David Jones.
After dressing the winners for the big night, she escorted them to the glamorous soiree, where she mingled with singers Nelly Furtado, Marcia Hines and other celebrities.
"There were heaps of Australian celebrities there, but I didn't really care because I don't know them," said Hooper, who regularly accompanies her parents to New Zealand events.
Although she was excited by her celebrity engagement, she said she did not watch The OC and was not a huge fan of Barton's before their meeting.
"I'd heard stories that she's an ice maiden. But you hear that about all celebs, so I didn't really keep it in mind. She is gorgeous, such a beautiful girl. And very polite. She was sweet."
The meeting came about when Lisa Poulos, a Sydney publicist and friend of Hooper's mother, found herself overcommitted.
Knowing Hooper's penchant for fashion and styling, Poulos asked her to help dress the competition winners and take them to brunch with Barton.
"It was so much fun, I had no idea who I would meet," said Hooper. "I expected it to be young girls, but the first woman I dressed was 68. She was so cute. I got her into a pair of stilettos."
Unlike her fashion designer parents, Hooper said she prefers "putting things together" and is seriously considering a career as a fashion stylist.
She is excited about her upcoming fashion spread in canvas magazine's special Fashion Week issue of September 16.
